Bottlecleaner

ABSTRACT

A brush for cleaning the inside of a narrow bottle, the brush in one form of the invention consisting of a tube with outwardly sideward extending brush bristle along one end thereof, the other end of the tube being enlarged to form a handle, and a rod inserted through the tube, one end of the rod having end-wise extending brush bristles and the other end having a hand controlable knob for pushing or pulling the rod so to selectively expose or retract the rod end bristles into the tube; the device in another form of the invention being screw fitted in a bottle cap so that the unit can rotate when it is moved longitudinally respective to the bottle.

United States Patent 1 Caliendo et al.

[ Aug. 7, 1973 BOTTLECLEANER [22] Filed: Aug. 30, 1971 [21] Appl. No.:175,960

757,703 I 10/1933 France.... 15/165 Primary Examiner-Edward L. Roberts[57] ABSTRACT A brush for cleaning the inside of a narrow bottle, thebrush in one form of the invention consisting of a tube with outwardlysideward extending brush bristle along one end thereof, the other end ofthe tube being enlarged to form a handle, and a rod inserted through thetube, one end of the rod having end-wise extending brush bristles andthe other end having a hand controlable knob for pushing or pulling therod so to selectively expose or retract the rod end bristles into thetube; the device in another form of the invention being screw fitted ina bottle cap so that the unit can rotate when it is moved longitudinallyrespective to the bottle.

5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures BOTTLECLEANER This invention relatesgenerally to bottle brushes.

It is generally well known that conventional bottle brushes do notadequately clean out the bottle bottom particularly at the inside cornerand this is of course objectionable.

Accordingly it is a principle object of the present invention to providean improved bottle cleaner that overcomes this objection so to morethoroughly cleanall the interior surface of the bottle, including thegen erally difficult-to-clean corners.

Another object is to provide a bottle cleaner which is adaptableparticularly for any narrow bottle especially such as have narrow necksso that it is hard to reach inside.

Still another object is to provide a bottle cleaner that is suitable forcleaning a standard Evenflo plastic baby bottle.

Still another object is to provide a bottle cleaner which can by screwrotated in a bottle by pushing the bottle cleaner in and out of abottle. I

Still another object is to provide a bottle cleaner which can beelectric motor driven so to push the bottle cleaner in and out of thebottle.

Other objects are to provide a bottle cleaner which is simple in design,inexpensive to manufacture, rugged in construction, easy to operate andefficient in operation.

These and other objects will be readily evident upon a study of thefollowing specification and the accompanying drawing wherein:

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the reference numeral representsa bottle cleaner according to the present invention wherein there isshown in FIGS. 1 and 2' a bottle cleaner that comprises a stiff tube 11which along one end has a series of sidewardly extending brush bristles12, the other end of the tube being sidewardly bulged to form a handle13. A stiff rod 14 is fitted through the tube 11, the lower end of therod being slit to form several stiff arms 15 which are pivotableoutwardly respective to the rest of the rod and the arm ends have brushbristles 16. The other end of the rod 14 has a knob 17.

In operative use, the bottle cleaner 10 is inserted in a bottle and whenthe handle 13 is rotated the inner side wall of the bottle is cleaned.In order to clean the bottom of the bottle, downward bristles 18 fromthe lower end of the tube brush the bottom wall of. In order tothoroughly clean into the comer formed between the bottom wall and sidewall of the bottom, the knob 17 is pushed down so to spread the arms 15as shown in FIG. 2, so that the bristles 16 get deep into the corner,

andthe knob 17 is then rotated.

Thus there is an improved bottle cleaner.

It is to be noted that the lower end of the tube 11 is outwardly flaredslightly so to contain the arms 15 when in a retracted position as shownin FIG. 1.

In FIG. 3, a modified design 20 the invention includes all the abovedescribed features except that the tube includes a spiral screw thread21 which threadingly engages a threaded opening 22 in a bottle cap 23associated with the bottle cleaner 20 and which is removable from thebottle together with the bottle cleaner. The spiral screw thread permitsthe tube to rotate when the handle is pulled and pushed, so that therotating bristles l2 clean the side of the bottle while the bristles l8clean the bottom.

In a further mosified design, instead of using brush bristles, any oneof the above forms of the invention could employ brushes of foam rubberpad type.

While various other changes may be made in the detail construction, itis understood that such changes will be within the spirit and scope ofthe present invention. We claim: 1

l. A brush for cleaning the interior of a bottle comprising a tube witha handle at its outer end and a first brush at its inner end, incombination with a second auxiliary brush mounted axially movable withinsaid tube, said second brush being movable from a closed position withinsaid tube encompassed by the first brush, to an open position extendingoutside of said tube axially and radially beyond said first brush,including means external of said tube for moving the second brush fromthe closed to open position.

2. A brush as in claim 1 wherein the said means comprises a rod slidablymounted in said tube having a portion extending axially through andbeyond said handle and wherein the second brush has bristles mounted atthe ends of resilient arms which are biased to a radially expandedposition when moved to the open position and which are squeezed into thetube in response to axial movement of said rod to said closed position.

3. A brush as in claim 2 wherein the inner end of said tube is flaredoutwardly adjacent the resilient arms of the second brush whereby thesaid arms will gradually diverge radially as the rod is moved fromclosed to open position.

4. A brush as in claim 3 in combination with a bottle wherein saidbottle and brush have coacting means for causing brush'rotationresponsive to relative axial motion.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein the said means comprises a bottlecap with a threaded bore and a coacting external spiral screw thereof onsaid tube.

1. A brush for cleaning the interior of a bottle comprising a tube witha handle at its outer end and a first brush at its inner end, incombination with a second auxiliary brush mounted axially movable withinsaid tube, said second brush being movable from a closed position withinsaid tube encompassed by the first brush, to an open position extendingoutside of said tube axially and radially beyond said first brush,including means external of said tube for moving the second brush fromthe closed to open position.
 2. A brush as in claim 1 wherein the saidmeans comprises a rod slidably mounted in said tube having a portionextending axially through and beyond said handle and wherein the secondbrush has bristles mounted at the ends of resilient arms which arebiased to a radially expanded position when moved to the open positionand which are squeezed into the tube in response to axial movement ofsaid rod to said closed position.
 3. A brush as in claim 2 wherein theinner end of said tube is flared outwardly adjacent the resilient armsof the second brush whereby the said arms will gradually divergeradially as the rod is moved from closed to open position.
 4. A brush asin claim 3 in combination with a bottle wherein said bottle and brushhave coacting means for causing brush rotation responsive to relativeaxial motion.
 5. The combination of claim 4 wherein the said meanscomprises a bottle cap with a threaded bore and a coacting externalspiral screw thereof on said tube.